This invention relates to water and soil repellent compositions and more particularly to water and soil repellent compositions for treating non-porous surfaces.
There is frequently a need to treat a non-porous surface to render the same water or soil repellent. Thus, the effective life, appearance and performance of objects made of such materials as glass, ceramics, metal and plastics, etc., are often adversely affected and degraded by the wetting action of water and foreign particles carried by water. Other adverse effects resulting from the wetting of such substrates by water are impairment of vision, soiling, staining, corrosion, alteration of electrical properties, loss of luster, etc.
The presently available materials for treating non-porous substrates are frequently unsatisfactory and difficult to use for a number of reasons, such as: they are usually effective on only one, or at the most a few, of the surfaces encountered; they may require the use of specialized storage and application techniques; they may require careful timing to prevent difficulty of rub-out or streaking of the surfaces being treated; they may require heat curing which cannot be carried out under many actual field application conditions; they may require extensive surface preparation prior to application; and, most importantly, they usually lack durability and resistance to solvents and detergents and thus require frequent reapplication to maintain the substrate in a water-repellent condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,540, dated May 18, 1971, discloses a water repellent composition useful for the treatment of non-porous surfaces such as glass, said composition consisting essentially of an alkyl polysiloxane, a mineral acid such as sulfuric acid, and a solvent. While these compositions are satisfactory to some extent, a need still exists for improved water and soil repellency and improved durability.